Calva and Friendship

Friday

Today we leave Honfleur and head to the town where our friend, Bénèdicte, grew up. The town is La Haye du Puits and to get there, we will cross through a region known as Calvados. This a very special place for those who love spirts.

Once you leave a city or town in Normandy, the countryside becomes extremely rural. Agriculture appears to be the main source of employment throughout this region.

There are two agriculture products that standout - Camembert Cheese and Calvados. The later of these items is a libation made from apples that is served mostly as a digestif. It can be procured with 2 to 50 years of aging in a barrel. Some would compare it to Brandy or Cognac, but it would be on the top of the list in my humble opinion.

Taking back roads, we arrived at the Calvados Experience around 1030. The parking lot was empty except for… two large tour buses. 

 With no reservations we walked in with hopes of being able to get an English tour. The French tour had just begun and a herd of people disappeared behind some automated doors. The wait for the English tour was only 20 minutes and we were the only two in the group. The museum is fully automated and filled with audio-visual aides and movies so you can understand how Calvados is made, and why it is so special.

And of course, the best part was when the tour finished, a Calvados tasting was provided as a part of the experience. Being a party of two we were able to ask a lot of questions and even enjoyed a couple of extra offerings that were not part of the tasting. 

This was a really great experience!  Oh yeah!  Shopping for this apple nectar was also available.

Hunger had come upon us once again, and we headed to a small town named Cambremer, not to be confused with the cheese. Cambremer is the home of a very famous Calvados house that offers a good tour. Unfortunately, it was lunchtime, and everything closes until 2 pm. A small family restaurant provided us a hardy lunch that brought us back to life. 

The town was preparing for a festival and the streets were lined with tents. We would have loved to stay for the event, but our next destination was calling.

We cannot describe to you how beautiful is the Normandy countryside. Riding past horse farms, small villages, and large manor houses we made our way to Beuvron du Auge. 

This small town has been recreated to look like a village of yester year. It has an art museum and few shops, but we were headed to Aux Trois Damoiselles, which was a cidre (cider) bar in a lovely courtyard. Once again with apples, this drink is very popular in the region. Much less alcohol than its brother Calvados, cidre usually contains less than 5% Alc. There were some relics of the past around town that were used to make cidre on display. After enjoying some of the region’s finest we loaded up once again and began to make our way to La Haye du Puits.

Arriving early, we decided to head downtown and enjoy a cup of coffee. La Haye du Puits is a busy small town, and it was fun to watch the traffic and people as we enjoyed sitting in the sun with our coffee. We also were confused on exactly which house our friends lived in. On the way in, we drove right past it but it had a different number than their address. Google maps said it was the house, Tom thought it was the house, but the number was different. We finished our coffee and headed back to the suspected house. We were happy to find our host, Rui, in the backyard.

Sabrina, Bénèdicte’s sister, arrived home from work and the four us laughed and told stories of our adventures to date. Sabrina made a very special dinner of bulots and a fish cake. Bulots are like small conch and are a delicacy in this area. Whipping up some homemade mayonnaise to be enjoyed with the bulots, the meal was fantastic. Jocelyn, Sabrina’s brother had also joined us for this seafood feast. 

Approaching midnight, it was time to do the dishes and go to bed. Our day had been one of exploration, discovery, and rekindled friendships.

A Day of Pictures

Thursday

Today we would leave Rouen and head to a town by the sea named Honfleur. However, our departure would not be by train. Job #1 for the day was pick up a rental car and then hit the road.

Driving in France is no different than home, but the traffic signs are different, a ton of traffic circles, and the streets in the cities are much narrower.  No problem we have a Fiat!  Tom feels like he is at home.

We took major roads and back roads to our destination.  Backroads were much prettier.

Arriving too early to check into the hotel, we dropped our bags and continued on to a small city named, Trouville-sur-Mer.  This small fishing town has one large casino!

It is here where the age old question of how many old farts, no matter the language, does it take to work a parking meter.  With French, English, and hand jesters, they got it done!

On a recommendation from Tom's cousin who vacations frequently in Normandy, we had lunch at Les Vapeurs.  It is located directly across from the fish market in  Trouville-sur-Mer..

Oh Là Là - We are talking some serious seafood!  Not to be forgotten was the Normandy apple tart with cream.  Yes cream - not ice cream.  And of course, Calvados.

Back in Honfleur, we began exploring the town and harbor area.  There are flowers are everywhere and they are beautiful. 

Restaurants and bars line the quay. Pretty magical place.

Just relaxing taking it all in.

When you live in a town full of fisherman, even the church looks like a boat.

Disappointed the sun was not out for better pictures, the town offered some lovely scenes to enjoy.

It is dinner time!

We split a salad.

Tom went with chicken,

Janet went for the scallops.

No dessert - we were stuffed!  Time for another walk!  Honfleur by night is even more mesmerizing.  What a wonderful day.

Back in the hotel room Janet plans tomorrows attack of Normandy 

   Good night all!

The City of 100 Bells

Wednesday

Well God decided we needed to sleep until 10 am. To be honest in our 43 years of marriage do I ever remember sleeping that late. We did have a seventh inning stretch at 3 am for Janet. She woke up about ready to go and was reading a book when Tom woke up at four o’clock and asked if it was seven? After finding out the real-time, we realized that more sleep was needed. However, we did not realize it was another six hours. Okay, we got a late start, but that would not slow us down.

The Plan-of-the-Day was to walk the city and take it all in. Janet had studied the tour books and after some breakfast we explored the cobblestone streets of history. Breakfast is hard to find at 10:30 in the morning in France, so we settled for a croissant and an espresso with Calvados for Tom and a cappuccino for Janet. 

Now fully nourished, we were ready to tackle anything. We headed down to the River Seine and enjoyed the sun along the promenade. There was a AmaWaterways riverboat tied along the city wall. Memories and flashbacks of our Christmas Market boat ride up the Rhine brought smiles to our faces

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We have friends getting ready to get underway on the Danube in a week or two and we hope their journey will be safe since they will be much closer to the ongoing hostilities in Europe.

After walking along the river, we decided to head to the old market. Our stroll brought us under the famous clock tower of Rouen, Gros Horloge Astronomic. Hundreds of years old, the clock was a sign of nobility of Rouen that they were in favor with the king. Notice that it only has one hand to tell time. Hey, I guess 500 years ago that was close enough. At some point in time the nobility lost their favor with the king when they failed to pay taxes to him. Somethings never change.

We walked the market looking at all the amazing fruits, cheeses, and seafood.  The selection of cheeses filled multiple display cases.  Creatures from the sea, some of which we did not recognize, were laying on beds ice  looking at us like they were saying, "please take us home".  The availability of fresh foods of this quality would be so nice  to have at home.   We wanted to buy everything, but we only bought some Camembert to enjoy later.

 

By then we were working up a appetite. Not far from the market we found a nice bistro named Can Can that was simply amazing. The food preparation and presentation were only exceeded by the quality that we put in our mouths. Janet chose a risotto dish that had shaved asparagus, saffron, and herbs. Tom went with a pork dish that was in a bed of mashed peas served with micro-greens – Unbelievable! 

The restaurant is known for their smoked dishes. The table next to us ordered two of those dishes. It was amazing to watch as they lite off a fragrant straw and closed it under glass flavoring the dish. With lunches like this there was no doubt we were in France.

We strolled around the square where Joan of Arc was executed. Today, there is a boxwood garden and two stakes remaining that supposedly were in the ground the day she was burnt. Very close by is a very modern church that was built next to the site. 

The stain glass was from an ancient church that was destroyed in WWII. The windows had been removed for safe keeping so they would not be broken by bombing. 40 years after the war these 400-year-old windows found a new home and fill the church with colors and light.

 

A very nice place to sit quietly and feel the inner peace. There is power or an aura of Joan one feels when they walk the street.

We walked the city discovering more hidden treasures and old churches. We spent time walking in the huge gothic Saint-Ouen Abbey which was started in 1300 and completed 250 years later. Currently under heavy renovation, it was being used to display art. The size of the edifice was simply overwhelming.

Wandering the gardens behind the abbey, we popped out into a section of Rouen where the Seine River was channeled down through the streets. The water still runs freely, but today I think it is more for beauty than a practical purpose.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame of the Assumption in Rouen can be traced back to 260 AD. We are talking old! It has been rebuilt 8 different times since its beginning. The famous front façade may be recognizable by art lovers?

Correct Claude Monet painted the church forty times in the early 1890s.

Returning to the hotel we enjoyed a wonderful Rosè with Camembert Cheese in the lobby. It was good to get off our feet. Good walking shoes are a must. Almost every road and sidewalk is cobblestone. Five miles on cobblestones is a long way.

Back to The Place du Vieux-Marche for dinner. Our hope was to go to the oldest restaurant in France ( La Couronne), but we did not have reservations and they had no openings. Just a few steps down the street, we found a nice bistro whose menu caught our eye. We had two different starters but enjoyed the same main course, a wonderful fish dish with vegetables in a Normandy cream sauce. Our dessert was an amazing chocolate mousse in a jar garnished with a kumquat, and yes, a glass of Calvados for Tom.

Dinner was over at 10:30 and we slowly walked back to the hotel taking in all the sights we had seen throughout the day. Our hopes were to walk off some the calories we had just consumed. Coming to the square in front of the Cathedral, we once again stood in awe of this building.

Good Night All – from Rouen

Day 1 - New York to Rouen

Our chariot was waiting when we finally made our way to the departure gate. We still had some time to kill before boarding, but the time flew by. We boarded a few minutes late due to the catering truck was still off-loading our dinner and breakfast for the flight. In the airport (JFK) masks were still required. On the plane they were encouraged and there was a blend of maskers and no maskers.

First Class and Business was packed, but we were in the Preferred Section. It was probably about 60% and the back was probably about 40%. There was plenty of room onboard. The plane was a 777-200 and it was clean as a whistle. We switched over to the middle section so we could have four contiguous seats for the two of us. Yes indeedy, things were looking good. And then we got airborne… The flight was smooth all the way across the ocean, but that may have been the highlight. The food was awful, the wines extremely disappointing, and for some reason the temperature kept varying. After watching the movie CODA, we decided to head off to sleep because the morning in Paris would come quickly. The plane was very chilly, so most had opened blankets. Thirty minutes later the plane must have been 85 degrees. For the rest of the night the temperature varied from the Artic to the Equator about every 30 minutes. We both did rest, but not like we hoped. The flight did go quickly and before we knew it our little plane icon was sitting on the top of Paris.

Clearing passport control was no problem, but masks were mandated. The lines were a little long because we were second behind another airline’s passengers. I think the plane may have been from Africa due to the dress and traditional garb. The passport checkers were being very careful before the stamp was given. After getting our stamps, we headed out towards the lobby only to find another layer of custom folks going through bags extremely carefully. Lo and behold, a gentleman was being escorted by two policemen and a customs agent, who was holding 4 bricks of an unknown substance wrapped in plastic and duct tape. Clearing without inspection, we headed outside to find a taxi. Asking for help from CDG information agent, he not only told us where to go, but took us directly to insure we got a legit taxi into the city.

After little to no sleep, maneuvering through customs and acquiring transportation can always be a challenge. We found the taxis right outside the airport. Getting a taxi to the train station seemed the right choice as we could just sit back and continue with our journey. Pushing the easy button and jumping in a brand new taxi only to find ourselves in the midst of rush hour. If you are driving, be aware, motorcycles make their own lane and drive between two lanes of traffic. 

 As we entered the 8th arrondissement (district) of the city, we could see Paris coming alive as everyone began their day. It was sensory overload with the sounds of horns, movement of motorcycles, bikes, and scooters between the cars, and the smell of cigarettes. It seems as if everyone in France smokes or vapes.

Our taxi driver was happy to get out of the traffic and leave us at the train station. There are no surprises with a taxi. They are regulated, and so it is 58 Euros from CDG to Gare St-Lazare for the ride.

The train station was bustling and for the second time today, a nice man helped us find the ticket windows. Trains in France run so efficiently when there are no strikes. Lucky for us, they were right on time today. Track numbers are posted on boards visible throughout the station. The trains run on time and are very clean. If you need to use the bathroom at the station, it is co-ed, spotless, and a one-euro coin provides you a seat.

The train pulled out at the designated time with multiple stops before we would reach our destination of Rouen. Leaving the city of Paris, the train sped by the French countryside quietly and quickly. The slow rocking motion lulled us into quick power naps, which were truly needed. No worries, Rouen is the last stop, so we were not going to miss our station.

Gathering the bags once again, we walked about 8 blocks to our hotel for the next couple of days. We are staying in the historic center of old town a block from the Cathedral. Following our travel rules, we dropped our bags and hit the streets immediately. No naps are allowed on day one. Okay, we did power nap on the train, but that does not count. Finding a restaurant quickly, we both decided to plunge into the cuisine of France. Janet had a Croque Monsieur, while I went with a Croque Madame. 

The difference you ask… why the Madame is adorned with a fried egg. Which means Janet is not going touch a Madame with a ten-foot pole.

Refreshed and nourished, we headed to the Joan of Arc museum. What a fascinating way to learn more about the "Maid of Orléans." 

This 15th century teenager changed the course of French history, and for that matter world history with her faith that the visions she experienced were from God. Her story was done graphically on walls of stone in the Archbishops palace where she was sentenced to burn at the stake using 21st century technology. 

 A place not to be missed when you visit Rouen! This museum incorporates a virtual story combining “judges” and “witnesses” to determine Joan’s fate.

We visited a wine shop where Tom found a wine from Spain that he has been in search of, Maturana Blanca. The bottle will be consumed before returning home. Quickly running out of gas from no sleep, we found a café and enjoyed a charcuterie board and a glass of rosè. 

The evening chill was settling in as we headed back to the hotel for hot showers. We did have a dinner, but it is not worth mentioning. 

 Bedtime was before 9 pm local time, and only God knows when we will wake up.  Good Night Rouen.